Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Sweet Potato {Vegan}

This Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Sweet Potato is not only delicious and satisfying, but also happens to be vegan and gluten free!

I told a lie at the dinner table when I served up this soup, following steadfastly in my mum’s footsteps. My eldest son, somewhat suspiciously, asked, “What are the orange pieces?”

“Oh, you mean the carrots?” I replied innocently. My boys are not proponents of the sweet potato and squash families, which I get. At their ages, I turned up my nose at that whole category of veggies, not realizing that my favorite soup was chockful of cooked and mashed butternut squash and parsnips. My mum was the master of disguise!

Just as they polished off their last bites, rather enthusiastically I might add, I said, “So, you liked the sweet potato, huh?”

“Wait, what? Sweet potato?! Well, it’s okay in a soup, I guess.”

Uh huh.

I’m starting to rack up the Instant Pot recipes on Cookin’ Canuck, including a vegetarian chili, a chicken and potato curry and a vegetable soup, now joined by this hearty vegan Instant Pot lentil soup. And this is a stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal, perfect for dunking bread into and even better as leftovers.

There’s nothing difficult about this meal. A little chopping, followed by hands-off cooking time. The entire cooking time listed in the recipe below includes the time for the Instant Pot to reach high pressure and to naturally depressurize for a few minutes.

Serve this up with a side salad and some dunking bread, if you like.

If you make this recipe, I’d love to see it on Instagram! Just use the hashtag #COOKINCANUCK and I’ll be sure to find it.

Set Instant Pot to Saute setting. Add the olive oil and allow to heat for 30 seconds. Add the onion and celery, and cook, stirring, until softened about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cumin, paprika, salt and red pepper flakes.

Add the lentil, sweet potato, vegetable broth, water and diced tomatoes, and stir to combine.

Pu the lid on the Instant Pot, close the steam vent and set to HIGH pressure using the manual setting. Decrease the time to 12 minutes. It will take about 15 minutes for the Instant Pot to reach pressure.

Once the time is expired, wait for 10 minutes, then carefully use the quick release valve (it may sputter a bit) to release the steam.